


Health Check

by PilotintheAttic



Category: Original Work
Genre: Medical Examination, Panic Attacks, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 20:33:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4451384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PilotintheAttic/pseuds/PilotintheAttic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian has to have a health check from a Healer, but isn't familiar with some of the procedures.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Health Check

**Author's Note:**

> I worked myself into some kind of weird panic attack over the prospect of having a cervical smear test in the next few years and i basically wrote this to vent my distress using Dorian. it's half past 3 in the morning now and i've just finished and I'm very tired so it gets a little sloppy nearer the end.

It’s standard practice, they’d told him as he’d filled out the forms in the crowded waiting room. Dr. Castell was a different kind of healer than the village potionmasters and herbalists, like Dorian had been more accustomed to. He hadn’t a health check since before Flora was born, probably, and this would only be her second or third. Basil, on the other hand, was rather more experienced and was hardly reading the pages he was filling out.

Dorian furrowed his brow. They’d come to this town because he had been recommended Dr. Castell in particular, since there was a possibility she would be more familiar with his and Flora’s troubles. However, there were a few hoops to jump through. Dr. Castell, once she heard from Anber about the travellers, had agreed to help. Luckily Madam Bast was kind enough to pay not only for Basil, but for the fauns as well, so money was no issue. But Dr. Castell had said the conditions sounded “difficult” and she’d need to perform several general checks on them each in order to get the full idea of their health before she could help. Of course, Basil was exempt from this, but he booked himself an appointment with a meditator who could help him keep his energy flow balanced.

Basil put his paper aside and stretched, fangs on show in a yawn. He glanced at Dorian and Flora, before leaning close to the little girl and asking if she needed help with anything. They started up their own conversation, while Dorian continued to stare at his paper. 

“You look stuck, ok there?” 

Basil’s voice raised Dorian out of his focus and he shook his head. “Nah, I’m done now.” He hastily circled the last unfilled question and folded his forms in half, setting them neatly on his lap. “You?”

“We’re done,” Basil replied, and he may have said something more if a nurse hadn’t opened the door and called his name. “Meet you out here when we’re done, yeah? Back soon, Flora!” He padded smartly across the room, giving the nurse a wide smile as he passed her, and disappeared down the corridor into one of the consulting rooms.

Flora watched him leave, and turned to her brother. “What’s all this?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Dr. Castell won’t see us unless she can know everything about our health,” Dorian sighed. “I guess it’s necessary? Magic’s a complicated thing to treat.”

“What’re they gonna be doing?”

“The usual thing you had when you were smaller. Heartrate, blood pressure, height, weight and stuff. Hoof checks and things like that. They might want to take a little blood though.” Seeing his sister blanch, Dorian gave a reassuring smile. “You’re just a kid so they’ll prick your finger and that’s all. You’ll be out before you know it.”

As if on cue, the nurse reappeared in the doorway and called Flora’s name. Dorian gave her a small nudge and she got up to leave, waving a little goodbye as she left him sitting there.

Dorian was sitting in the waiting room for about an hour before Flora returned and his name was called. It was expected he’d have to wait a while, since they were both seeing the same person about complicated issues. He’d ask Flora about her experience when he got back.

\----------

Dr. Castell was fairly short for an elf, and a little fuller in stature than the species average, and had a face which was welcoming without losing its appearance of professionalism. “Hello, Dorian,” she said from her desk chair. Her voice was lightly accented, her tongue curling the words slightly. Dorian dipped his head in greeting and handed her his forms. Dr. Castell skimmed over them quickly, but frowned as she read the first page again. “You’ve put ‘F’ for gender,” she started, but Dorian cut her off quickly.

“That was on purpose,” he said quietly, avoiding eye contact. “I-I wasn’t sure…if it meant gender or uh, biological….”

“Oh!” Dr. Castell smiled gently. “That’s fine, dear.”

“I’m still a guy, though.” Dorian raised his head, making sure she was okay with him. 

Dr. Castell nodded and wrote a note on the papers. “I must admit I wasn’t expecting this,” she said. “Am I correct in assuming you have a vagina?”

“Y-yes,” Dorian stammered, looking away reflexively. 

“Chest?”

“I bind.” His face burned with having to admit it to a stranger, even though she was a doctor. 

“And you’re…18, it says here?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, Dorian, I was expecting to have to perform a prostate exam” – Dorian swallowed – “but due to your situation that won’t be necessary, of course. I will be examining your vagina, however. You are of the age where it’s necessary to have these exams, and every bit of information helps on cases such as yours, due to the nature of energy flows.”

A cold shudder ran through the faun’s body. This would be new. He found himself unable to move, having to exert every part of his will to go to sit on the bed when she asked him. 

The first part of his health check was easy enough; Dr. Castell prodded and put specialised tools in his ears, felt around the rims, checked his nose, teeth, tongue and throat with a light and mirror on a stick – a light which she then used to shine on each of his eyes. That done, she took his blood pressure, weighed him and measured his height, all without a word. Dorian was somewhat familiar with this kind of health check, and allowed himself to daydream a little as she worked, not needing her to explain the procedures. Despite his loath to touch people, Dorian dealt with this kind of handling fairly well. He felt no surge of his own magic defending him and inwardly congratulated himself.

“I’m going to check your legs and hooves now,” Dr. Castell said, putting her pen down again. Dorian nodded and she crouched in front of him, taking his slender leg in her hands. She pushed and pulled gently, checked over his hooves and checked the reflex of his knees, and stood up. “Remove your waistcoast, shirt and binder,” she said. When Dorian hesitated, she explained, “I have to take your heartbeat and examine your breasts. I apologise, it must feel strange for you.”

Dorian screwed his eyes shut for a moment, forcing down the anxiety rising in his throat. Stripping down to just his binder was fine, but there he hesitated. He rarely even let Flora see him like this, let alone someone like Basil or a stranger. But Dr. Castell was waiting, and they had more to discuss after his health check was over. In one quick movement, like tearing off a plaster, Dorian unzipped his binder and shrugged it off, shivering with anxiety.

Dr. Castell was highly professional and immediately had the stethoscope to his chest, telling him to breathe in, then breathe out. She repeated the check with the stethoscope on his back, asking him to cough, and Dorian obliged wordlessly. However when the stethoscope was once again around her neck and her hands were suddenly lifting his arms above his head and prodding around his small breasts, Dorian stilled and his breathing shallowed. He hated being touched especially on his chest even when it was bound, and having someone examine and touch his bare breasts reminded him just how female his physical body seemed. It was uncomfortable, but over within a minute.

“You’re generally in pretty good health,” Dr. Castell remarked. “Despite binding all the time, your chest is fine. Do you have any rib pain?”

Dorian shook his head, reaching for his clothes. A wave of Dr. Castell’s hand told him he could dress again, and he breathed a sigh of relief as the binder flattened him once more.

However, that sense of relief was short-lived when Dr. Castell slipped on a pair of translucent gloves and said, “Lay on your back with your knees up and apart.”

“I’d rather not…” Dorian tried to say, but it came out as a squeak that wasn’t quite words. Under her clinical gaze, he had to oblige. He could feel his body shaking out of apprehension as he stared at the ceiling, his sharp ears acutely picking up the sounds of the doctor walking towards him and fiddling with a few things on a trolley to the side. 

“This is your first time, so I’ll walk you through it,” Dr. Castell said, her voice coming from beyond Dorian’s feet. “I’m going to insert two fingers, and put my other hand on your stomach. You’ll feel some pressure, but not pain. Mind if I ask you if you’re sexually active?”

Dorian was all too aware of the sound of her uncapping a tube of lubricant. “N. None,” He said quickly. “I mean no. Never.”

“That’s alright. It might feel a bit odd then, but don’t worry, I’d never use anything larger than a penis.” She laughed good-naturedly, an attempt to calm him, but Dorian feared if he tried to laugh along it would become hysteria. The last thing he wanted was for someone to touch him intimately. Considering he was afraid to even hug someone, having a stranger explore his genitals was a horrifying prospect. 

The sudden coldness of the slick, gloved fingers against his labia, hidden underneath his thick fur, made Dorian flinch, and he was unable to stop himself from whimpering. He felt Dr. Castell’s other hand on his belly and heard her say something reassuring, but terror had taken over his mind. His body had gone into defensive mode, and it was taking all his remaining will to ensure he didn’t lash out and cause an accident – or worse. The doctor’s fingers eased inside, stretching him suddenly, and a high-pitched whine escaped Dorian. He couldn’t breathe, he was hyperventilating and he tried to squirm away from Dr. Castell. But his body was frozen in place by his own panic. Her palm, firm on his belly, held him steady and he fought the urge to scream. 

It only felt worse when she began poking around inside him. The pressure felt strange, wrong even, very wrong. It was painful and terrifying and he knew she was saying something to him but god only knew what it was, his mind had gone blank with fear. He felt the telltale coolness of healer’s magic from her fingers, exploring his body from the inside. The sickening feeling of his own magic began to rise up like bile and Dorian bit down on his lip, hard enough to draw blood, to distract himself. Tears pricked at his eyes and his body trembled – and then the pressure was gone from inside him. 

As soon as Dr. Castell withdrew her fingers Dorian scrambled to sit upright and get off the bed, staring at her with his ears pressed back and his fur on end. Dr. Castell, however, seemed oblivious to his panic and was removing her gloves, binning them neatly. She turned to face him and said cheerily, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

And that was the point at which Dorian bolted. He darted straight out of the room, down the corridor and through the waiting room – not noticing Basil and Flora sat waiting for him – and straight out of the door. He didn’t know where he was going, and his body began shaking again so hard he couldn’t walk, and Dorian slumped against the building’s brick wall, hugging his knees to his chest. And unfortunately, embarrassingly, burst into tears. 

Flora and Basil found him just a moment later, having chased him outside once they realised it had been him to whirl past them, and both stood a few metres away at first. Flora touched Basil’s arm, telling him to wait, and came carefully over to her brother. She crouched down next to him and put out her hand to touch his shoulder, and he flinched hard at the proximity. Then, his distress outweighed his reservations about touching and the fear of his lingering magic flare-up and Dorian flung himself into his sister’s arms, heaving shaky sobs against her dress. Flora held him gently, just held him, her eyes closing as she rested her chin on his head. Basil stood off to the side, shuffling awkwardly. He’d never seen Dorian like this. He’d seen him upset, but this was a full on panic attack. He ached to help, but would probably make things worse.   
“Tell Dr. Castell I’ll be in touch,” Flora said to the older boy, and Basil nodded, grateful to have a task which would take him a little further away from the siblings. 

Dr. Castell was easy to spot, standing in the waiting room looking around in confusion. “Dr. Castell?” Basil called out, confirming it was indeed the right person before approaching. “I’m Dorian’s friend. His sister asked me to tell you she’ll be in touch.”

“Oh.” Dr. Castell looked concerned. “Is Dorian alright? He suddenly bolted with no warning.”

“Panic attack, looks like,” Basil said, shrugging. “Ain’t my place to find out really.” His reflective eyes narrowed. “You do something to him?”

“Only routine health checks, albeit a couple he was unfamiliar with,” Dr. Castell said, frowning. Then her usual composure returned. “I’ll get in touch with Flora tomorrow and discuss their problems. Although I’m unlikely to be able to help after all. It’s a shame.” She sighed. “You tell Anbar hello next time you see him, alright dear?” With a click of her heels, the elf strode back towards her office, leaving Basil alone in the waiting room.

“Oh man, what the hell happened to you..?” The blond-furred man sighed, and gathered his courage to return to his friends.


End file.
